Korea Taken off Illegal Fishing Watchlist

The U.S. has struck Korea off a list of countries suspected of "illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing," the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries here said Wednesday.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration put Korea on the watchlist last September after two Korean deep-sea fishing vessels were caught fishing in a protected area in the Antarctic in December 2017 in violation of the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.

At the time, the NOAA pointed out that it would not be easy for Korea to curb illegal fishing practices with fines alone.

As a result, Korea passed a law last October that increased fines for violators, and the U.S. had been reviewing it since then.